Glengarry School Days – Ralph Connor

When I was little – eight or nine years old maybe – I was utterly fascinated by the idea of one-room schoolhouses. Reading Glengarry School Days by Ralph Connor, published in 1902 but more likely set during the 1870s of the author’s youth, reminded me very much of that old fascination. Its schoolroom scenes have much in common with those from some of my favourite childhood books – L.M. Montgomery’s Anne books and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series – but offer a decidedly and irresistibly male perspective on growing up.

Set in a rural farming community in Ontario, Glengarry School Days follows the adventures of the boys of Glengarry. The existence of females other than mothers is acknowledged but not encouraged – the dark days of the Glengarry school include the period when two “girl” teachers reign over it – so instead we hear quite a lot about the boys’ games, their rivalries, their friendships and also their lives away from school, including both their chores and their hobbies. It is an episodic book, each chapter standing alone, offering glimpses into Glengarry and its youth over a period of some years.

Though the book really centers around Hughie Murray, the minister’s son, I was most intrigued by Connor’s portrait of Thomas Finch, who is slightly older than Hughie but still a close friend. A large and awkwardly-spoken boy at the beginning of the book, Thomas unexpectedly becomes Connor’s way of discussing masculinity. Yes, Thomas is large and strong but when his mother falls ill with breast cancer, he is the one who does most of the caring for her, not his sister. He is as “gentle as a woman” in nursing her and everyone in the community admires him for it. He plays hockey and works the farm – very masculine pursuits – but at no time is that presented as being at odds with his nursing of his mother. Connor doesn’t belabour the point – I have made more of it here than he does in the entire book – but I still think it is an important one: tenderness is just as natural an aspect of a man’s character as it is of a woman’s.

Ralph Connor was the penname for Charles Gordon, a Presbyterian/United Church minister, which explains why the book has such a strong moral tone – but not an unpleasant one. I found it far more palatable than, say, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s or Louisa May Alcott’s books. Hughie, for example, struggles with keeping secrets from his adored mother but rather than let things come to a dramatic crisis point, Connor lets Hughie work through his angst in a much more natural, internal way. It felt true to the sort of dilemmas children do find themselves in and Hugh came off as a normal child who dearly loved his parents rather than a saintly one who would never sin again.

But the moral and religious strength of Glengarry is not limited to improving its boys; it also gets hold of Jack Craven, the last in a string of teachers the school has during the course of the book. Craven comes to Glengarry after his wild ways get him thrown out of college – just the sort of reject who all too often was in charge of such rural schools. He is not a natural teacher and prefers to follow his own preferences rather than any well-rounded lesson plan. He also does not bother to discipline the children, though they come to love him and so a sort of discipline does develop. Slowly, under the influence of his admiring pupils, Craven begins to feel the duty to reform. But it is really Mrs Murray, the minister’s wife and Hughie’s mother, who inspires his transformation. She is one of those perfect, saintly women who always say exactly the right thing and who, without a word of reproach, with only their consideration and support, can shame one into wanting to be a better man. Such Madonna-like characters used to be very popular – especially as minister’s wives – and are now terribly unfashionable (for better or for worse). Regardless of current standards of political correctness, it is under Mrs Murray’s influence that Jack Craven is inspired to evolve from rakish youth to theological student.

I really loved this book. I loved the descriptions of meals that could rival even the dinners in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books; I loved the excitement of the students over the “treat” of a spelling match; I loved that it addressed – intelligently – some of the challenges about growing up and the urge that even the most polite children feel to rebel. Mostly I just loved the fun of it, of getting a glimpse into a childhood that felt very real and very relatable but still very different from my own experiences growing up a hundred years later.

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So are the girls in a different school, or in the same school but just ignored? I just read Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s Understood Betsy for the first time – which also features a one-room school, also reminding me of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The girls are there, certainly, but only really acknowledged during school hours, when the boys are forced into proximity with them. It isn’t that they are disparaged, they just don’t have much of a role in the boys’ lives.

I, too, am fascinated with one room schoolhouses and know I would like this, Claire. I’ll be looking for Glengarry School Days.

Here in Illinois we still have one room schoolhouses standing, a few in their original spots, including one in the town we used to live in. I love visiting it. My mother-in-law taught in such schools, back in the day when a teacher’s contract became null and void is she married.

It’s serendipity that I was reading Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess today when I say this post, and she does indeed like to make dramatic climaxes, especially in this particular book. I love boarding school books too, but I think I have never read any that was boys only. I’ll definitely put this one in my to-read list.